Lakshya Bhatt

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Discuss what is meant by employee engagement and outline how

employee engagement can be improved
The literature of employee engagement depicts the personal involvement of an
individuals desire to work towards a driven goal and to achieve an active
presence within their organisation, encompassing the relationship and
interactions that exist between an employee and organisation. Scholars like Kahn
(1990) and Sak (2006) have shown that employee engagement has a direct
impact on both organizational and performance outcomes such as a turnover and
job satisfaction. While this is the case, the notions and theories behind employee
engagement are still emerging and growing as its importance is being recognized
as a crucial component in Human Resource Management. Consequently,
organisations are continuously investigating the association between Human
Resource Management and the concept of Employee Engagement and how this
framework can be further improved to achieve the organizations goals.
Employee engagement (EE) is an evolving concept, which has been developed
over time to integrate the growing ideas and concepts based on research
findings. Engaged employees are believed to portray high levels of commitment
and align themselves with organizational goals and objectives while motivating
their colleagues Hence it can be seen that an employee who believes their work
and attitudes has a significant impact is more engaged, resonating the ideas
portrayed in Khans Need-satisfying approach. Khan (1990) conceptualized EE
as persons preferred self in task behaviors that promote connections to work
and to others, personal presence, and active full role performances and linked
these to three particular psychological factors: meaningfulness, safety and
availability. This perception was further developed by Maslach (2001) in the form
of an antithesis, which focused on a disengaged employee in his BurnoutAntithesis Approach which addresses issues of exhaustion, cynicism and
ineffectiveness . The less of these traits a person exhibits, the more engaged
they are with the organisation. These key aspects link into the psychological well
being of the employee which was introduced by Harrison et al. (2006), who
established there is a relationship between job satisfaction and performance in
relation to positive job and work attitudes. These findings (Ivan T. Robertson,

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Alex Jansen Birch and Cary L Cooper ,2012) accentuate the importance of
psychological well being and how higher productivity and overall a greater sense
of satisfaction can be achieved on the basis of employees emotional and
behavioral traits. Furthermore, this highlights the complexity of the concept as
well as its multidimensional aspects and that the employee engagement
framework further consists of cognitive, emotional and behavioral components
(Sak, 2006). Figure 2 (Anitha, 2014, p.317) reinforces the work of these scholars
as a r2 value of 0.672 shows a positive correlation between employee
engagement and performance, indicating that factors such as working
environment and co-worker relationships have a substantial impact on both an
employees engagement and their overall performance. As a result we see that
employee engagement is dependent on both an employee internal state of
psychological well being and external factors set by the organisation itself.
Employee engagement is an undisputable source of competitive advantage and it
is in the best interest of every organisation to ensure their employees are
satisfied and perform to their highest potential. As a result, more and more
organisations are spending an increased amount of time investigating the
relationship between Human Resource Management and employee engagement
and constantly trying to improve employee engagement to maintain a
competitive edge of other existing enterprises. An organisation with a wellstructured framework of employee engagement will have a greater turnover, less
absenteeism, a higher sense of job satisfaction among employee and in general,
a better working environment. One particular approach is the reassessment of
the management structure itself, as changes in the structure will have a direct
effect on employee engagement and hence the employees performance, evident
within New-Zealand Post initiative (International Journal of Human Resource
Management). By reviewing branch management practices and implementing a
new framework, NZ Post was successfully able to identify current problems in
their employee engagement, particularly communication and motivation.
Consequently, precise changes were implemented in the training of employees
and the organisations framework, resulting in employees achieving a sense of
fulfillment and having a greater understanding of their skillset. Moreover, this
notion exhibits the idea of achieving a sense of purpose in the driven work of

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employees within an organisation. This evidence further highlights the concepts

of Khans psychological factors, however introduces a new factor direction,
which signifies that it is equally important that employees are aware of company
expectations and their relevant performance measures. Another key area in this
scenario is the improved communication means that developed between the
managers and the employees. Initially, managers felt that they had no place in
New-Zealand Post and subsequently had very low motivation drives and poor
performance. By changing the interactions that occur between co-workers and
improving the overall knowledge of staff, New-Zealand post was successfully able
to improve their employee engagement and increase their staff satisfaction,
ultimately excelling their organisation.
In essence, it can be perceived that employee engagement is a complex concept
that is still continuing to grow and emerge with consistent research, however, it is
through critical thinking that there is a significant influence on an organisations
employees and objectives. It is comprised of the various concepts and ideas that
arise from both the interactions of employees with managers, personal behaviors
and emotional perceptions. Ultimately, an organisation with a strong framework
of employee engagement is able to consistently maintain and improve this
structure, which accentually provides the enterprise with a competitive edge.

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References
Anitha J, (2013). Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on
employee performance. International Journal of Productivity and Performance
Management. Vol. 63 (3), pp. 308-323.

Arrowsmith, J. & Parker, J. (2013). The Meaning of employee engagement for

the values and roles of the HRM function. The International Journal of Human
Resource Management. 24(14), 26922712.
Ivan T. Robertson Alex Jansen Birch Cary L. Cooper , (2012) , Job and work
attitudes , engagement and employee performance , Leadership & Organization
Development Journal , Vol. 33 Iss 3 pp.224 232

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Shuck, B. (2011). Four Emerging Perspectives of Employee Engagement: An

Integrative Literature Review. Human Resource Development Review. 10(3),
304328.